


Drift

by HawkSong



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, Gen, just something nice, short-short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24818383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkSong/pseuds/HawkSong
Summary: The blessing of the kami was the best thing that happened to Berylla in Othard.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Drift

**Author's Note:**

> Some small mention of Berylla's feelings towards a certain young scholar, fair warning

The blessing of the kami was the best thing that had happened to me in Othard.

Down here it was peaceful. Not quiet: I could hear the fish I couldn't see. Through the magic that allowed me to just drift, their noises transmuted into something most like birdsong, little twitters and soft melodies.

The sea sighed around me, an encompassing rise and fall, as if the world itself breathed at a different pace here.

I could feel my heartbeat slowing.

My hair drifted, unbound. A pair of tiny silvery fish played in it for a moment, then darted away when they noticed it wasn't sea-grass after all.

An enormous fish made a slow progress across my field of vision. I saw one eye examine me as it floated by, stately and bizarre, a rounded shape taller than I was.

The tether reached its limit, and tugged me gently back towards the giant kelp stalk to which I had tied myself. My hair flowed around my face, and I let it cover my eyes.

Above the water the sun was setting, turning the upper part of my horizon as ruby-red as the region's name deserved. Somewhere up there, trouble waited for me. And friends. A war. Grief. Pain. Worry.

I could have gone deeper, the blessing was more than powerful enough to let me walk on the very bottom of the great Trench that sheltered the palace of Shisui. But I didn't want the cold darkness of those depths, not this time.

The light here didn't hurt my eyes as it had on the surface.

The sounds didn't drum against my head and make me ache.

I let my eyes shut part way, and counted out the length of my breaths as Nightbird had shown me. Focused on the flex of my diaphragm, the flare of my nostrils as I breathed water that transmuted to air just as it touched me.

I released my breath, counting. Took in another, counting.

Everything that could be planned for, had been planned for: there were gaps in our information, but primarily our only real worry was dealing with the unpredictable.

_Like Yotsuyu_.

The rage made my stomach tremble, and I refocused.

Calm. Breathing. Drifting.

It would all be decided in another day or two. Alphinaud had his book, and was memorizing the information in it, the way that only he could. I wondered if he understood how rare his gift was, to plan so thoroughly, to learn so very fast. I smiled slowly, thinking about the way his brows would draw down as he concentrated. The unfocused look in his eyes as he assimilated a passage, that fine mind of his tucking the information away, to be retrieved at need – or when he wanted to show off.

Would his brows knit, when he touched me? Would he memorize every inch of my skin?

I shook my head a little. _Now is not the time for fantasies_.

Soon, there would be no more time.

I soaked up the peace of the sea, stored the quiet sighing of the waters deep in my soul, to comfort me. I knew I would need it. If not tomorrow, if not the day after, then soon enough.

I had never been much of one for praying. I knew who my god was, and I knew what She could do...and what She could not. Nonetheless, I whispered into the sea, setting little prayers free on the tide. _If I must die for those I can yet save, then so be it_.

Night closed in, and I remained.

Breathing.

Drifting.

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to share something that was nice. A balm for the pain some of my other works have inflicted, if you will


End file.
